Filling the Void

Easter Day Year B

April 12, 2009

Prelude

Astronomers have found a big empty place in the universe. A massive void. This hole is gigantic, nearly a billion light-years across. Inside it there are no planets, no stars, no galaxies, no gases. It’s just a huge cold spot. A whole lotta nothing.

And how about that massive void, that huge cold spot in the sky? It’s between six and 10 billion light-years away from us, and it’s nearly a billion light-years across. Our tiny heads cannot even begin to comprehend a hole that gigantic. It’s been described as a big bubble in the cosmic pancake batter.

A massive void. No planets, no stars, no galaxies, no gases. Absolutely nothing. An empty place. An empty space. The empty tomb. That the tomb is empty, void, is a massive, world-changing reality.

The "Most" Empty Space

That space … is not nearly … as cavernous … as a heart … without God.

About 350 years ago, Blaise Pascal, mathematician, philosopher and physicist, observed that the human heart is like an “infinite abyss.” He discovered that we human beings try in vain to fill our hearts with everything around us — education, jobs, homes, money, friends, family. But none of these earthly things can help, “since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself.” In spite of his brilliance and his contributions to mathematics, Pascal realized that life apart from God is empty. He found refuge in Jesus Christ alone.

It happens …

• when you give your heart to someone who doesn’t accept the gift

• when you learn a sport, practice hard and still don’t make the team

• when you study and pursue a profession, only to find you hate your work

• when you create something beautiful, and discover that no one’s interested

• when you jump to a new job, then lose it in a downsizing

• when you put money into a home, only to see your equity disappear

• when you retire from a long career, and wake up with nothing to do

• when you lose a spouse to cancer, and find yourself all alone in the world.

The Living Presense of Jesus Fills the Void

The earliest reference to the Resurrection is Saint Paul's, and he makes no mention of an empty tomb at all. But the fact of the matter is, that in a way, it hardly matters how the body of Jesus came to be missing because in the last analysis, what convinced the people that he had risen from the dead was not the absence of his corpse but his living presence. And so it has been ever since.

--Frederick Buechner,

The Faces Of Jesus

(New York: Harper&Row, 1989), 219-20.

Relationships, Hope in Face of Death, Healing Presense, Redemption from sin, Grasped hand into the future.

Since all-night talker Larry King had heart surgery, he has received letters and gifts. No letter has affected him as much as one he received Monday. With a Bible was the following message, dated December 31: "Dear Larry, I'm so glad to hear that everything went well with your surgery. I want you to know that God was watching over you every minute, and even though I know you question that, I also know that one day it will be revealed to you. My prayer is that you remain open and God will touch your life as He has mine. Once I was a disbeliever. When I could not fill my life with basketball, I would simply substitute sex, liquid drugs, or material things to feed my internal shell-like appearance. I was never satisfied. I have finally realized after 40 years that Jesus Christ is in me. He will reveal His truth to you, Larry, because He lives."

It was signed by Pete Maravich. Tuesday, Maravich, former college basketball and NBA luminary, died.

-- The Toledo Blade